Rachel in Houston
Rachel in Houston is a female caller from Houston, Texas. She is a fan of the Houston Texans, Houston Rockets, Houston Astros, Texas Longhorns and North Carolina Tar Heels. A five-time Smack-Off participant, Rachel has developed a reputation as one of the show's best - and most polarizing - callers. Many of the clones who dislike Rachel often gloss her with male R-names, such as Rudy, Richard, Reginald, etc. in response to a prevailing opinion that she sounds angry when she calls the show. Rachel also describes herself as an employed professional, and thus doesn't always have time to call the show. Frequent Takes and Targets Despite being one of the few regular female callers in the show's history, Rachel has developed a reputation for being un-afraid to crack certain callers, athletes and in some instances, states. In past Smack-Offs, she has targeted callers such as Jeff in Richmond, Jim in Fall River, Bill in Knoxville (who was invited to the Smack-Off with Rachel for three years running), and Justin in Boise. One of her favorite targets is the state of West Virginia - in a call in March 2005 following West Virginia's elimination from the NCAA men's basketball tournament, she cracked Mountaineer fans for setting their couches on fire when the Mountaineers win. In her Smack-Off call of 2008, Rachel cracked West Virginia again before she was run for rambling. Frequent Rachel targets in the sports world have been Barry Bonds, Maurice Clarett, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, and former Houston Rockets coach and current NBA on ABC commentator Jeff Van Gundy. Smack-Off History She made her first Smack-Off call in 2004, and while she didn't finish her call, she did not receive the buzzer. Smack-Off 2005 saw her make history with the highest place ever for a female, as she placed 4th in the event. What's notable about her 2005 call is that the only calls to finish ahead of her were three of the Jungle's iconic calls - Terrence in Sierra Madre's "Hey Mr. J-Stew", Iafrate and his famous "Andruw Jones spelling bee" call, and the winning call from Sean the Cablinasian, in which he stated "I'm a made man in this Jungle, so I can do whatever the hell I want, whenever the hell I want." That Smack-Off also saw Rachel at the center of controversy. Prior to that Smack-Off, a large number of the show's followers tried to get her voted off the event through a poll on the show's website. At one point, amongst a group of five callers, Rachel garnered 60 percent of the vote, and a disapproval rate of over 80 percent. Yet, Rachel was still invited and used her detractors as ammunition to catapult herself to a top 5 finish. 2006 saw another solid effort from Rachel, as she finished 5th in that year's Smack-Off. Almost as big, though, was her rivalry with Justin in Boise, a carry-over from 2005. Justin also was invited to Smack-Off 2006, and did not place. Despite her success in those three calls, she has received the buzzer treatment in the last two Smack-Offs. Other Notes Despite the opinions of the masses who dislike Rachel, Jim Rome has gone so far as to gloss her as a "legendary caller." On August 21, 2007, during Rome's one-day trip to Houston, Rome met Rachel at the Jungle's Houston affiliate following that day's show. Rome alleges that Rachel is a "good gal," and that she scored huge points with not only Rome, but show producer Travis Rodgers as well. Links http://www.andrew.moorehill.net/Jungle/ History of the Smackoff http://www.stucknut.com/-see the Takebox See also Jim Rome Smack-Off Smack-Off 2005 Smack-Off 2006